Homemaking on the Homestead

I was thinking about some organization ideas as I was going through a cupboard this morning and cleaning it up and making some new labels for my jars. I was thinking about the different things I use to help me organize cupboards, shelves and counters and thought I would share. Canning jars have to be my most favorite. I use all sizes; small ones on up to gallon size, depending on the need. I have a small cupboard above my mixer and I store salt, baking powder, baking soda, measuring spoons, Sharpie pens, and some extracts on the bottom shelf. It was a mess so I took everything out and cleaned it up. Here is the way I store these items.. I purchase salt, baking powder and baking soda in large quantities. Then I transfer them into small canning jars to make them easy to use.. I also keep my measuring spoons in a short, wide mouth pint jar.. And I have a little tiny creamer that my mom gave to me years ago and I put the Sharpie pens in it.. I use the pens to mark zipl...

I like to make my own hamburger buns and last night we had burgers so I made up a batch of my favorite dinner roll recipe and made 8 hamburger buns and a pan of cinnamon rolls from it. You can find the recipe here: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/wwoatdinnerrolls.htm You can use any bread recipe to make these two items, but the one above is my favorite. You start by bringing the oats, water and butter to a boil.. After it comes to a boil pour the mixture into your mixer. Now wait for it to cool down. If you don’t wait, the mixture will be too hot and kill your yeast. It takes about 10 to 15 minutes.. once it has cooled down add the yeast, sweetener and whole wheat flour. The recipe calls for Sucanat but you can sub brown sugar if you don’t have the Sucanat.. Mix it all up.. Now add the white flour. You may need to add more than the 2 cups called for. Add flour until the dough does not stick to the sides of mixer and it is not sticky feeling. Knead for about...

Nothing like a pot of warm stew to keep away the winter chills.  This recipe is pretty easy and quick to throw together. It just needs all day to simmer in the crockpot.   Here is the recipe.. Beef Stew for the Crockpot 1lb. beef stew meat 2 to 3lbs potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite size pieces 2 cans green beans, drained 1 can cream of mushroom soup (I use organic cream of mushroom soup) 2 cans corn, drained 1 can (14oz) diced tomatoes 1 to 2 cans (14oz) beef stock Salt, pepper, seasoning salt, to taste Combine all ingredients in the crockpot and let it simmer on low all day long (10+ hours or less time on high). Here are the some pictures of my stew.. First are the ingredients. And you will notice some of the ingredients don’t look typical.. LOL.. I have a package of beef stew meat from the cow we purchased, a box (not a can) of cream of mushroom soup, the brand is Pacific and I buy it from my food co-op Azure Standard, 1 quart bag of my homemade ...

I had big plans over the weekend to attack the kids’ bedroom closets.. but it never happened! LOL.. no sure why.. so it is still on the list. I did however get my hallway on the main floor all cleaned and dusted and a big shelf unit that I have there gone through and a lot of stuff purged. Slowly but surely I am getting through my cleaning and organizing goals for January!   We have a little red Jetta that my kids drive. My oldest daughter Carolyn started driving it, then my daughter Hannah, then it was passed down to Emily and now it is Leanne’s. However it now also has 273,000 miles on it! LOL.. so it is really starting to show its age with all the use. It had a big oil leak so Tobin took the car out of commission so he could work on it. He replaced the clutch (which would be due soon anyway), put new seals on the transmission and did a few other things. Then he found the main leak and discovered there was at least one broken piston ring. So the car is getting wor...